Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 232 / Tuesday, December 5, 2023 / Presidential Documents 84681 

Proclamation 10680 of November 30, 2023 

World AIDS Day, 2023 

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

On World AIDS Day, my message is simple: Let us finish the fight. 

Since recognizing the first World AIDS Day 35 years ago, we have made 

enormous progress in preventing, detecting, and treating HIV—greatly reducing annual HIV diagnoses and transmission. But despite these advancements, 

about 39 million people continue to live with HIV, including more than 

one million people in the United States. Far too often, people living with 

HIV face discrimination that prevents them from accessing the care they 

need. So, as we reflect on our progress today, we must also come together 

to renew our promise to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. 

At home, my Administration has taken historic steps to achieve this goal. 

During my first year in office, I reestablished the White House Office of 

National AIDS Policy and launched a new National HIV/AIDS Strategy— 

a roadmap for using innovative community-driven solutions to end the 

HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States by 2030. This year, my Administration also ended the disgraceful practice of banning gay and bisexual men 

from donating blood. We continue to work with State and community leaders 

to repeal or reform so-called HIV criminalization laws, which wrongly punish 

people for exposing others to HIV. I have asked the Congress for $850 

million for the Department of Health and Human Services’ Ending the HIV 

Epidemic Initiative to aggressively reduce new HIV cases, fight the stigma 

that stops many people from getting care, and increase access to pre-exposure 

prophylaxis (PrEP)—a critical drug that can help prevent the spread of 

HIV. 

We are also focused on ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat worldwide 

by 2030 under the bipartisan President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief 

(PEPFAR). PEPFAR has reduced transmissions, expanded testing, and saved 

more than 25 million lives in over 50 partner countries over the last two 

decades. Further, PEPFAR is focusing on forging a future where every HIV 

infection is prevented, every person has access to treatment, and every 

generation can live free from the stigma that too often surrounds HIV. 

My Administration is committed to working with the Congress to pass 

a clean PEPFAR reauthorization bill to extend this lifesaving bipartisan 

program for 5 years and end HIV/AIDS by 2030. 

We are within striking distance of eliminating HIV-transmission. We have 

the science. We have the treatments. Most of all, we have each other. 

On this 35th World AIDS Day—let us honor all the families who have 

lost a loved one to this disease and all the people currently living with 

HIV/AIDS. Let us remember the activists, scientists, doctors, and caregivers 

who have never given up in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic. 

Let us recommit to finishing this fight—together. 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States 

of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution 

and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim December 1, 2023, 

as World AIDS Day. I urge the Governors of the United States and its 

Commonwealths and Territories, the appropriate officials of all units of 

government, and the American people to join the HIV community in activities 


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84682 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 232 / Tuesday, December 5, 2023 / Presidential Documents 

to remember those who have lost their lives to AIDS and to provide support, 

dignity, and compassion to people with HIV. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day 

of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-three, and of 

the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 

forty-eighth. 

[FR Doc. 2023–26841 

Filed 12–4–23; 11:15 am] 

Billing code 3395–F4–P 


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